The present invention generally relates to the connection of printed circuit boards to associated chassis structures and, in a preferred embodiment thereof, more particularly relates to adapter apparatus for use in connecting a printed circuit board, such as a motherboard, to a computer chassis.
Two of the most expensive parts in a personal computer are its enclosure, or chassis, and its main system printed circuit board which is commonly referred to as a "motherboard". The ability to utilize a number of motherboard designs in conjunction with a single chassis design is a manufacturing necessity due to the time and expense involved in designing and developing a new chassis. Three or four new motherboard designs can typically be made ready for market in the time it customarily takes to develop a new chassis design.
Large cost savings can be achieved by decreasing the size of a motherboard even slightly. Due to the current rapid development in component miniaturization, increased chip function capabilities and manufacturing improvements that allow circuit board real estate to be more densely packed, opportunities for cost reductions from motherboard size decreases often arise several times during the production life of a given chassis design.
In order to take advantage of the cost savings arising from a motherboard size reduction, it has heretofore been necessary to revise the configuration of the original chassis, for example by relocating board mounting bosses or board lock structures on the chassis, to accommodate the smaller motherboard. The requirement for this chassis modification, of course, can undesirably offset a substantial portion of the cost savings achieved in the motherboard size reduction.
From the foregoing it can readily be seen that it would be highly desirable to provide apparatus and methods for permitting a single computer chassis to accommodate a reduction in the size of the motherboard that it was originally designed to operatively support without the necessity of altering the configuration of the chassis. It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide such apparatus and methods.